Tennessee's Interstate System

The creation of the interstate system was years in the making for the nation and Tennessee. As early as the 1940s federal legislation had proposed a system that would connect states throughout the nation. Actually, the first recognition by the federal government that roads were of national significance was in 1916 when Congress passed The Federal Aid Road Act setting up a system of federal funding for highways that continues until present day. In 2006 our interstate system celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a nod to President Dwight Eisenhower and the sponsors which included Tennessee's U.S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr. – the interstate system.